


Love is a people thing

by Purple_Blueberry



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Character Study, Dehumanization, Emotionally Repressed Toy Soldier, Emotions, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Murder, It/Its Pronouns for The Toy Soldier (The Mechanisms), Non-Graphic Violence, Other, The Toy Soldier Has An Emotion, i think??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27698822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_Blueberry/pseuds/Purple_Blueberry
Summary: Toys play pretend, some are very good at pretending and the Toy Soldier might just be the best. It can't have silly real emotions, only easy pretend ones. It especially would never pretend to "love" anything, "love" was definitely a people thing.After all, a Toy couldn't be hurt if It was only a pretend thing.
Relationships: The Mechanisms Ensemble & The Toy Soldier, The Toy Soldier/The Angel (The Mechanisms)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	Love is a people thing

**Author's Note:**

> So... This is the first work I've written/posted in years, so i really hope its somewhat decent. It may be the results of sleep deprivation, listening to the mechs on repeat and talking to my friends about the Toy Soldier and making myself sad. so in short its mostly a bunch of semi coherent ramblings.  
> Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated.  
> :)

The Toy Soldier fell in love with an Angel.  
Love, that was Its first emotion, one It knew for certain wasn't pretend. It Loved the Angel and she taught It to love other things, pretty things that had never been a concern for It before. The way flowers smell on a hot day, the feeling of the rain on It's face, how it feels to sing loud and dance as if you're the only thing around for miles. The Angel taught It to love, and the Toy Soldier loved with everything It had.

The Angel also managed to teach It other emotions, different but no less intoxicating then the 'love' It had grown so used to.  
First came Anger.  
A roaring fire, burning through Its body and with such ferocity that the Toy didn't know what was happening until wooden fingers closed tight and bruising on soft flesh, crushing and squeezing until they were stained red with gore and It had acquired Itself a new voice to sing into the stars with.  
And then, just as unexpectedly, came Grief.   
Staring at red stained shaking wood and screaming with a voice that would never truly be It's own. Pain lacing through every part of It's clockwork like cold acid that burned so much deeper than the fire that anger lit.   
Causing cogs and gears to jump so violently and painfully It wondered if It would fall apart as broken sobs echoed around It.   
Crying, It would ponder at a much later date, must be so much more satisfying accompanied by the harsh burn of tears.

After the Angel, the Toy Soldier decided.... remembered, It remembered because Toys don't make decisions. Toys don't have emotions. Only people have those. Toys just play pretend, some are very good at pretending and the Toy Soldier might just be the best. It would no longer have silly real emotions, only easy pretend ones. It especially would never pretend to "love" anything, "love" was definitely a people thing.

After all, a Toy couldn't be hurt if It was only a pretend thing.

Years later, when It is stolen and taken to sing with a group of violent space pirates It thinks this is the best place to be, they don't ask questions about the faded red stains on It's fingers or how It learned to sing and most importantly they don't talk about emotions.  
They call themselves “The Mechanisms” and they take It to lots of new and fun places where It can pretend to be whatever It wants. Sometimes It fights beside them, sometimes against them - in these instances It is almost always met with a manic laugh and the dull thunk of bullets impacting wood as Jonny or Tim go rushing past. It smiles and sends them a cheery hello. It knows It’s only pretending that splintered wood stings and burns with deep ache as it stitches itself back together.  
It learns to make tea tailored perfectly to each crew member's taste and will sit for hours pressed into Ivy’s side with a small spread of teacups and saucers laid out before them as she reads, sipping It’s tea slowly It pretends to feel “content”. It pretends to feel “excitement” when It visits Raphaella in her lab for experiments and listens to her talk about chemicals and brainwaves and a lot of things it doesn’t understand, but it joins in her enthusiasm and matches her answering smile.  
For a long time It would pretend to feel “nervous” around Ashes, They would always be flicking some lighter or another or even striking matches and starting small fires around the ship, The Toy Soldier didn’t know if it could catch fire and it didn’t want to find out. The two had eventually come to an understanding of sorts and The Toy Soldier pretended to swell with “pride” the first time Ashes asked them for help scaring Jonny.  
After the crew had discovered It’s...affinity for following orders it was surprisingly Nastya’s voice that had raised loudest over the gathered crew stating that The Toy was “Just as Real and sentient as Aurora and the rest of us! It deserves respect and we will not force It to do things It doesn’t want to” this confuses It and It pretends to feel “uneasy” as Nasty lies to the crew about It. It knows she is lying because It is not like Aurora and It is certainly not a person, just a Toy built to follow orders. Still It pretends to feel “grateful” when the crew rephrase questions so that It no longer has to perceive them as orders.  
Brian might be the easiest member of the crew to be around. It thinks that he might understand what it feels like to sometimes not be a full person or a machine, to just be a something. It likes to sit with Brian and look at the stars and pretend It can’t feel anything.  
Maris was always strange to The Toy, more so after the ordeal with the Bifrost. They stand together making biscuits for a tea party with Ivy when Marius tells It about Lyf, how Marius hadn’t even realised how he had felt about them until it was too late. The Toy Soldier pretended it couldn't feel regret and remorse and that cold acid burn that had begun to creep into its gears with the whispered question; “have you ever been in love TS?” and instead It pretended that It could feel “happy” as It quickly started making suggestions for other types of tea party food to make.

After all It was only a Toy, It shouldn’t feel emotions like regret or love. Those were people things. 

And well if one day, after a show on some distant planet where the crowds were rowdy and the Mechanisms grew loud and drunk and the night was filled with happy laughter and ended with a big pile of sleeping Pirates passed out in the commons, the Toy soldier happened to lay a blanket over its sleepy crew and received a chorus of happy sighs and slurred thanks, It felt something warm and content sweep through its wooden body... It might think to itself, secretly, that maybe It could learn people things too. Maybe It could "pretend" It knew how true Love felt.


End file.
